PLAYWRIGHT & SOLO PERFORMANCE

CURRENT

RHODES LESS TRAVELED/
Memoirs & Music

Written & Performed by David Rhodes

Actor, playwright, acclaimed solo-performer, David Rhodes (RITES OF PRIVACY, Time Out London Critics’ Choice) is debuting his latest solo show Summer 2020. Combining autobiographical anecdotes with reimagined arrangements of familiar songs — from Sondheim to Sting — Rhodes shares his journey and unique insights with humor, warmth and ebullience.

CONSENT

“Edgy and tender, honest and prickly”

— Steve Schonberg, Center on the Aisle

A play about sex, power and intimacy in the 21st century, CONSENT follows Ron Sullivan, living the American dream. A natural athlete and former NFL football player, Ron achieved early success as an award winning architect. But recently he's made some changes. He has come out as a gay man, separated from his high school sweetheart/wife, and moved into a Soho loft with his big sister’s support. A random encounter on a subway platform with Kurt, a hot Yale law student, seduces him into the murky waters of consent, challenging Ron’s sexual and moral boundaries and forcing him to confront his true identity. Neither man, nor the two most important women in Ron’s life, will ever be the same.

“Powerful and provocative”

“The play’s dialogue is brittle, funny and raw”

“This might well be ‘Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ for the 21 century”

— Beatrice Williams-Rude, THEATER PIZZAZZ

Writer/Director of CONSENT, David Rhodes, and actor Catherine Curtain on Fox5's Good Day - Street Talk

THE ROAD TO SKYE

A family of New York Baby Boomers gather on a remote Scottish Island to celebrate Stella’s 50th birthday, where mid-life crises collide with Gaelic mystery. Add a dragon, an unplanned pregnancy and a bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms to the mix and you’re on THE ROAD TO SKYE.

BETTER OR WORSE

Derived from verbatim transcripts and interviews with adults with autism spectrum disorder and their spouses; this documentary style reality show illuminates the cognitive-mechanics and the unique emotional realm of persons with autism, one of our fastest growing and most misunderstood populations. Their personal stories are a revealing expose’ of the infinite permutations of human attachments and the mysterious convention of marriage.

EINE KLIENE NACHT (One Little Night)

Secanol and applesauce trump chemo and amputation, when 88 year-old Beverly Klein learns she has bone cancer in her foot. But will her psychiatrist son agree to write a prescription for the hemlock? Two adult children attempt to orchestrate an exit strategy for their mother with the aid of a mysterious psychiatric patient and a little Mozart, Eine Kliene Nacht.

SOLO WORK

Inspired by the early works of Spalding Grey and Eric Bogosian, Rhodes began writing and performing autobiographical and fictional monologues and memoirs in the late nineties.

RITES OF PRIVACY

“A magnetic and exciting work of theatre...

Gutsy and enormously affecting."

— NYTheatre.com

David Rhodes began developing what would later become RITES OF PRIVACY in an acting class in 2005. His concept was to create several diverse and unique characters who divulge deeply suppressed secrets, alternating them with candid stories from his own personal experience, while morphing into them in full costume and make up. Rhodes incorporated song and dance into the fabric of the piece, serving as commentary and allegory for the celebration of liberation.

Originally entitled DON'T TELL!, David worked on each character weekly in class, culminating in an evening presenting the full work for an invited audience. Present that night was Charles Loffredo, Artistic Director of Moving Parts Theater, and a collaboration was born. Loffredo agreed to direct and co-produce the NYC Off-Broadway premiere.

photo:Tom Contrino

REVELATION.”

“A MOVING

on DAVID RHODES

and RITES OF PRIVACY

RITES OF PRIVACY was produced in August 2007 at Urban Stages Theater in Manhattan for a limited seven week run. The production received rave reviews, lauding Rhodes' tour de force performance, writing, and self-designed metamorphic costumes, as well as the subtle, evocative projections by Greg Emetaz. The production was filmed, and a worldwide marketing campaign began to bring it to new audiences. In 2009 London's prestigious fringe venue, The New End Theatre invited Rhodes & Loffredo to present RITES OF PRIVACY as part of its 2009/2010 season. With a further refined script and look, the play opened there in January 2010 for a five week run, once again garnering rave reviews, prompting Time Out London to site it as a CRITIC'S CHOICE.

In 2010, Rhodes returned to NYC for the New York International Fringe Festival — enjoying sold out houses and further rave reviews. Its creators were very excited to have presented the evolved work to its original audience, while sharing it with new theatergoers in Manhattan and beyond.

“Extremely impressive...Could have kept me listening all evening.”

— TimeOUT London

invest in the power of words, and allow your own secret heart a little dance of liberation.”

— The British Theatre Guide

“Spend ninety minutes in the charming company of DAVID RHODES,

I'M TELLING YOU...

Rhodes’ second solo show, I’M TELLING YOU... was performed at The Cherry Lane Theatre in 1997. The play chronicles his personal journey toward self-realization while negotiating the unexpected trials of parenting a child with developmental challenges.

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

His first solo foray, ACCEPTANCE SPEECH was produced at Westbeth Theatre Center in New York City in 1996. In it, he portrayed the fictional actor Jackson Davidson, who upon receiving his first Academy Award statuette, holds the podium and audience hostage; three sheets to the wind, he proceeds to rant about childhood trauma, the injustices of Hollywood, and the bittersweet rewards of his pursuit of the elusive trophy.